BC Election update. Premier insults $2/hr paramedics...insulting arrogance!

With the election so close, this is one arrogant, insensitive premier.
This is my first address book emailing I have ever done. I don't normally do them, but this coming from a news paper? I had to.
Mike Summers,
Leader, BC Refederation Party.


From www.kelownadailycourier.ca





Local
Paramedics go loonie after Campbell flips the bird
By J.P. SQUIRE
Tuesday, May 5, 2009



A joke or was Premier Gordon Campbell disrespectful to striking paramedics in Vernon?
Paramedics, who are about to resume negotiations, are incensed after Campbell allegedly flipped a loonie at a member last Wednesday and told him: "Here, don’t spend it all in one place."
The confrontation occurred at the Liberal candidate’s office in Vernon, according to a union spokesman, after the paramedic asked Campbell how ambulance attendants could feed their families on wages paid by the province.
After Campbell tossed the loonie, the unidentified paramedic’s response apparently was: "Thanks a lot; that’s a half-an-hour’s pay for me." Paramedics receive $2 an hour for on-call standby.
The website of the B.C. division of the Canadian Union of Public Employees posted a news release Monday that claimed: "Campbell flips paramedics the bird."
Health Services Minister George Abbott, who was in Vernon with Campbell, commented the news release is "completely at odds with the spirit of a jocular occasion, not a nasty one in any way from anyone’s perspective."
Abbott was talking to a Salmon Arm paramedic so didn’t see the premier’s toss but thinks he did it as part of a running joke. Vernon was "absolutely no different" than four or five other stops when Campbell thanked paramedics and allowed them to express any concerns during impromptu sessions outside, said Abbott.
"On every occasion, we have had very amicable exchanges. There was a lot of goodwilled ribbing on both sides but from neither side has there been any disrespectful comment or behavior.
"There was certainly no ill intent or illwell or disrespect that day. The premier was joking with the paramedic and it was obviously misconstrued or taken out of context or turned into something it wasn’t by the CUPE public relations people."
Members were peacefully demonstrating when the premier tossed the coin, said B.J. Chute, director of public education for the Ambulance Paramedics of B.C., who was responsible for part of the news release.
"I thought it’s highly disrespectful to paramedics. I think it really highlights the lack of respect that this government has shown paramedics and is showing this bargaining process to toss a loonie at somebody who is providing a critical function in the community and only being paid a $2-an-hour stipend for that."
Members across the province have told him they are "insulted" and "shocked" by Campbell’s total lack of respect for them, said Chute.
"I thought that was an inappropriate way to deal with a serious issue like paying paramedics a decent wage," added Murray Bush, national communications director for the Canadian Union of Public Employees which represents the 3,500 paramedics.
Abbott also announced that the Emergency Health Services Commission and CUPE will return to bargaining with dual facilitators: Barry O’Neill, CUPE B.C. president, and associate deputy minister of health Stephen Brown.
They met Monday with the goal of resuming negotiations in Vancouver today. Paramedics went on strike on April 1.
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